Suspended rail-joint for railroads.



No. 744,868.` PATBN'IED NOV. 24, 1903.

A G.H. J. MAAS. SUSPENDED RAIL JOINT PoR RAILROADS. APIILIOATION FILEDJUNE 10, 1.903.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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PATEN'IED NOV. 24, 1903.

G. H. J. MAAS. SUSPENDED RAIL JOINT FOR RAILROADS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 10, 190s. No MODEL. z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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tirarme @Tatras Patented November 24., 1903.

Pastrana @erica GOTTFRIED HEINRICH JACOB MAAS, OF ARNSBERG, GERMANY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 744,868, dated November24, 1903.

Application filed lune 10, 1903.

lfb MZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, GOTTERIED HEINRICH JACOB MAAS, civil engineer,federal and architectural counselor, a subject ofthe King of Prussia,German Emperor, residing at 7 Ruinbeckerstrasse, in the city ofArnsberg, Province of 'Westphalia Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspended Rail-Joints for Railroads, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a suspended railjoint on a single peculiarmetal joint-sleeper for railroads,in which the width of the sleeperdepends upon the distance of the supportingplates in such a manner thatthe bed on the whole width of the sleeper is subjected to pressure forall loads and is compressed and tightened just below thesupporting-plates on packing the ballast, whether the joint be symmetricor not.

In the ordinary superstructure with crosssleepers the rails and thefish-plates will wear off in their contact-surfaces the quicker thelarger the distance between two adjacent joint-sleepers is, and theloaded rail end will bend the deeper than the adjacent still un` loadedrail end, which means that the rollingstock will be shaken on passingfrom the one rail end over the gap to the other rail end, and the moreso the more the wear and tear of the rails and the sh-plates hasadvanced. Even for quite new superstructu1es,when the loaded rail'endwill bend very little below the level ofthe adjacent unloaded rail end,owing to the support afforded by the strong and unworn fish-plates,theshock given to the railroad-cars by the joint is quite distinct, and itwill constantly increase in a considerable degree. Attempts have beenmade with little success to avoid these defects by placing the twojoint-sleepers as near as possible to each other and by reducing thedistances between the neighboring cross-sleepers. Of course there was alimit, sinceit was necessary to leave suficient space between the twoadjacent joint-sleepers to pack the ballast. For

the ordinary Widths of the sleepers of from two hundred to two hundredand sixty millimeters it was, however, impossible to reduce the distancebetween the two joint-sleepers further than four hundred millimetersfrom This expedient proving in- Serial No. 160,925. (No model.)

sufficient, it has been tried in superstructu res with woodenci'oss-sleepers to compound the two joint-sleepers and to form of them asingle broad joint-sleeper and to place there on the two supportingplates, which remained distinct; but this trial was in vain. It is truethatin this arrangement the two supportpoints of the two adjacent railends can be placed near each other and at pleasure, so as v neath therail-joint is widened and made of metal, since it is impossible toobtain wooden sleepers of the necessary width and quality out of thelogs or timbers at disposal, and

` the metal sleeper affords the advantage that it will retain theperfect straightness of the common even surface required for receivingthe two supporting-plates of the suspended rail joint, whereas woodensleepers of a larger width are liable to warping and sloping, so thatthey are rendered unfit for the uniform support of the two suspendedrail ends, which is required for the goed passage of the railroad-earsover the joint.

Second. The width of the metal crosssleepers beneath the suspendedrail-joint is so proportioned with regard to the distance of the twosupporting-plates from center to center as to prevent the sleeper fromturning and to secure it under the load. Although the required width isto be found by calculation, as hereinafter stated, yet it is new to seproportion the width of the sleeper, and thereby to essentially improveon the suspended railjoint.

Third. The metal cross-sleeper beneath the suspended rail-joint is givena central rib in addition to the lateral wings, which central rib beinglocated vertically between the two ICO YVation.

supporting-plates causes the ballast just beneath the twosupporting-plates to be mostly compressed on being packed.

' Fourth. The unsymmetric suspended railjoint having a shortergiving-off rail end and a longer taking-up rail end, which is especiallyto be recommended for double tracks and which hitherto was known in therailroad literature only in connection with two vadjacentjoint-sleepers, can be `placed with special advantage on the singlemetal crosssleeper, since the two suspended rail ends of unequal lengthare given a single and solid basis, which it is impossible to obtain bytwo adjacent joint-sleepers.

These novelties and improvements in the suspended rail-joint areillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is asectional view of a sleeper and the rail-supporting plates thereon inaccordance with my invention, portions of two rails and a fish-platebeing shown in side ele- Fig. 2 is a plan, partly in section,of Fig. l.Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the rail, fish-plate, and sleeper.Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the rail-supporting plate. Fig. 5 is aView similar to Fig. l, but showing the ends of the rails in a differentposition rela- `tively to the sleeper and rail-supporting plates. Fig. 6is a plan of Fig. 5, partly in section. Fig. 7 is a sectional Viewthrough the rail, fish-plate, and sleeper shown in Fig. 5. Figs. 8, 9,and l0 are diagrams for the purpose of illustrating certain equationsreferred to hereinafter.

The hook-nailand plate systems now mostly in use in Germany are shown inFigs. l to 7,

Figs. l and 2 representing the symmetric and Figs. 5 and 6 theunsymmetric rail-joint. In bothl cases the width of the hollow sleeper Sis more than three times the distance of the two supporting-plates V andV from center to center. Preferably these supporting-plates are slightlycurved upward, as is shown at Fig. 4, so that the suspended rail ends,even if very abruptly shortened, may have a sufficient suspendinglength. In the cross-sec tion shown at Fig. 3 angle lish-plates L L areassumed in correspondence to Figs. l and 2, while in the cross-sectionshown at Fig. 7 Hat Jfish-plates L L are assumed in correspondence toFigs. 5 and 6. In the rail-joint according to thev three latter guresthe railheads do not require to be supported by angle fish-plates, andthis construction in which the fiat fish-plates are independent of therailfeet and supporting-plates may be employed if the rails areprevented from moving or shifting on the supporting-plates by othermeans, such as opposing fish-plates on the intermediate sleepers. Ofcourse the broad cross-sleeper with the suspended rail-joint may also beemployed in other superstructures with cross-sleepers-for instance, suchhaving chair-rails, the two cast-iron chairs being placed on the singlebroad sleeper instead of on two joint-sleepers. In case the suspendedrail ends are abruptly shortened, however, it will be necessary toslightly curve upward the supporting-surface for the lower rail-heads inthe chairs, so as to support the rails only in the centers of thechairs.

In proof of the advantages of the present construction of the suspendedrail-joint the following statement is made. In the suspended rail-jointon a single wooden cross-sleeper mentioned in the introductory Vpart ofthis the distance of the two supporting-plates from center to center istwo hundred and siXty millimeters and the width of the sleeper fourhundred and iifty millimeters. Let P equal the load by a wheel of arailroadcar, p d equal the specic stress on the bed thereby caused, p e'equal the specific stress and tug on the edges of the sleeper per squareunit resulting from the turning moment. Then according to Fig. 8 the tugon the edge ot' the unloaded part of the sleeper will be so this edgewill be lifted from the bed by a specific tug of 26-15 11 M Hp d Ep d,

resulting from 4'0 2 260 -l-pe-Q-. 450=P 2- Of course such an unstablejoint-sleeper cannot be secure beneath a suspended rail-joint, andpresumably this is the reason whya similar construction having beentried in South Italian railroads was not taken up elsewhere.

The improvement according to my invention is useful, for the reason thatby proportioning the width of the hollow sleeper with regard to thedistance of the supportingplates not only the tilting forcesare entirelyavoided, but also a solid and secure position of the sleeper is obtainedby distributing a proper pressure on the bed over the whole width ofthesleeper. In order to cause the under side of the sleeper on itsentire width 2 .fr to always exert a pressure on the ballast, it is,according to Fig. 9, necessary that onehalf of the width of the sleeperbe at least equal to triple the distance of a supportingplate from thecenter ot' the sleeper, for

which, for instance, results in a width of the sleeper of six hundredmillimeters for a dislOO IIO

rasees' e" a little larger than G ct, for in this case vnot only thcuniform stre-ssp d caused by the single load, but also and in a greaterdegree the stress p .e resulting from the bending mo ment P. a willdecrease, as is proved by the following equations:

so that if 3 tt l); p e' p d and the diagram becomes a trapezium,whereby the difference between the stresses on the two edges willdecrease if the width of the sleeper increases. The cross-section ofsuch a joint-sleeper with a suspended rail-joint will be nearly equal tothat of two joint-sleepers of the usual size.

It is a further novelty and an essential improvement that the centralrib of the sleeper holds the ballast beneath the supportingplates andprevents it from shifting too much. I-Iitherto in the ordinarysuperstruotures with cross-sleepers such a central rib forming anabutment for the bedding of the ballast has not been made known oremployed. lf there are any cross-sleepers with middle ribs, then thelatter are placed immediately beneath the supportingplates themselves7where they are rather disad vantageous as far as regards the uniformcompression and packing of the ballast beneath the supporting-plates andover the-whole widthsvof the latter, since the material beneath eachsupportingplate requires to be packed uniformly, whereas in the hollowcross-sleeper with a central rib having the supporting-plates on bothsides according to my invention the ballast beneath eachsupporting-plate need be packed from one side only.

For tracks on which the trains are regularly running in one and the samedirection (with the exception of interrx1ptions)t'. e., for all twotrackmain railroads-the unsym metric rail-joint is made use of r:incombination with the special construction of the suspended rail-jointaccording to my invention. As iswellknown,in the unsymmetric rail-jointthe lengths of the two suspended rail ends are made unequal, and for thepurpose aimed at the giving-off rail end is made shorter, so as toreduce as much as possible its deflection under the wheel load, whilethe taking-uprailend is made longer in order to offer little resistanceto its deflection down to that ofthe other rail end. Then the shocksgiven to the railroad-cars will be far less violent than when thetaking-up rail end is as long as the giving-off rail end. It is truethat such a suspended rail-joint in which the free rail ends are unequalis already known, but then the two supporting-plates are invariablyplaced on separate sleepers, and hence the free rail ends in such ajoint cannot be shortened as abruptlyas inthe jointon a single sleeper,since sufficient space must be left between the two adjacent sleepersfor packing the ballast. The construction of such a joint according tomy invention is shown at Fig. 5 in elevation aud at Fig. 6 in plan. Letthe length of the giving-olf rail end be land its deflection under theload P. Then for the longer taking-up rail end of the length l1 asmaller load Pl will be required for producing the same deflection d,which is found as follows:

l For a proportion of l to l1 like two to three ine load P1 and also thereaction of the taki ing-up rail end against deflection will be 8 P I IH P' 1 P 27 aud for the proportion being like one to two Pl would beonly 23. P S P.

In this proportion the shocks given to the railroad-cars will bedecreased. TWere the load P to remain on the longer taking-up rail endof course it would produce a greater deflection than d-z. e., the wheelwould sinkwhile for rail ends of equal lengths it would perceivably jumpunder the influence of the reaction of the elastic resistances. Themechanical work to be performed during the deflection, however, requiresa certain time, during which the wheel passes on. The least shock isproduced if the longer taking-up rail end of the length l1 sinks aseasily as possible down to the deflection ofthe giving-o rail end of thelength l while still retaining a sufficient power of resistance, so thata deeper sinking of the wheel on the taking-up rail end 0c- Acurs onlyat the moment when the wheel has traveled through the distance like thedilerence of l1 l-t'. e., occupiesa position at the distance of l fromthe center of the supporting-plate, in which case also the taking-uprail end will deect equally to the giving-off rail end under the samewheel load. The said difference l1.-l will have to vary with the varyingwheel loads and velocities, and it should be ascertained by calculationsand trials under the respective circumstances.`

The examination of the relations between the mechanical-work,the elasticresistances, their durations of time, and the velocities of therailroad-cars does not fall 'within the scope of this invention, whichmerely concerns the new technical effect of this perfecting of theunsymmetric suspended rail-joint in reducing the shocks of therailroad-cars.

IOO

Ils

The novelties and improvements described above in the suspendedrail-joint cannot be obtained With` the ordinary wooden or ironcross-sleepers. Especially the central rib cannot be arranged in apractical manner when making the sleepers of wood. Preferably the metaljoint-sleepers are provided with the usual head-plates on the ends toprevent them from shifting longitudinally.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1.- The combination With two rails arranged end to end and fish-platesconnecting their adjacent ends, of a metal sleeper having a central,longitudinal vertical rib on its under surface, and a pair ofrail-supporting plates between the sleeper and the rails, said platesbeing separated from each other and substantially equidistant from thesaid rib, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with two rails arranged end to end and fish-platesconnecting their adjacent ends, of a metal sleeper having a central,longitudinal Vertical rib on its under surface, and a pair ofrail-supporting plates between the sleeper and the rails, said platesbeing separated from each other and substantially equidistant from thesaid rib, and the end of one rail extending a greater distance beyondits plate than does the end of the opposing rail beyond its plate, forthe purpose set forth.

3. In a suspended rail-joint, a metal sleeper having a centrallongitudinal vertical rib on its under surface, and two rail-supportingplates on the sleeper separated from each other and substantiallyequidistaut from said rib, for the purpose set forth.

at. In a suspended rail-joint, a metal sleeper having a centrallongitudinal vertical rib on its under surface, and two rail-supportingplates on the sleeper separated from each other and substantiallyequidistant from said rib, and the width of the sleeper being equal toat least three times the distance from center to center of said plates,for the purpose set forth.

In Witness whereof l have hereunto signed my naine in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

GO'ITFRIED HEINRICH JACOB MAAS.

Witnesses:

@Tiro KNIG, J. A. RITTERSHAUS.

